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4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

D. EDWARDS. LIFT 0R HOISTOR OTHER, ELEVATOR. No. 249,325.

Patented Nov. 8,1881.

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D. EDWARDS. 4Sheets Sheet 2.

LIFT OR HOIST OTHER ELEVATOR No. 249,325. Patented N0v.8-,-1881.

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4 Sheets-Sheet 3. D. EDWARDS.

LIFT 0R HVOISTYOR'OTHER ELEVATOR;

Patented Nov. 8,1881.

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4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

D. EDWARDS. LIFT 011mm OR OTHER ELEVATOR; No. 249,325.

' Patented Nov. 8,1881.

NITED STATES DAVID EDWARDS, on CARDIFF, COUNTY on GLAMORGAN, WALES.

L'IFTOR HoisToR OTHER ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,325, dated November 8, 1881.

Application filed September 27, 1881. (No model.) Patented in England March 1, 1881. I i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID EDWARDS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Cardiff, in the county of Glamorgan, Wales, carpenter, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Lifts or Hoists and other Elevators, (for which I have received Letters Patent in England No. 869, dated 1st March, 1881,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of theiniprovements, hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in lifts or hoists and other elevators, by which improvements the mechanism issimplified, and lifts or hoists'or elevators produced in which the load is antomatically suspended at any height to which it may have been raised and readily lowered to any. extent by giving motion to the windingshaft in a direction contrary to that by which the raising is effected,the1oad beingautomatf cally suspendedin any position to which it may have been lowered on ceasing to give a backward motion to the shaft.

I Will describe and illustrate my improvements in connection with a lift.

Figure 1 represents in side elevation, Fig. 2 in end elevation, and 'Fig. 3 in plan,.a handworked lift constructed according to my invention. Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal section of the clutch mechanism of the lift, drawn to a larger scale.

The same letters indicate the same parts in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. V

a. is the principal shaft of the lift, and Ms the counter-shaft. Thesaid principal shaft a is capable of a rotatary motion in its bearings, and carries at one end a pulley or wheel, 0, over which an endless hand-worked rope or chain passes. By means of this rope or chain and pulley the lift is worked, as hereinafter described. On the shaft to is a tube or sleeve, (marked (1 and e, )the said sleeve being capable of rotating freely on the said shaft. The part (I of the sleeve carries a ratchet-wheel, f,with which the pawl g, turning on the counter-shaft b, engages. The other part, c, of the rotating sleeve 61 0 consists of a flanged drum, and constitutes two clutches, the acting faces of which may either be conical or plain, as represented in the sectional view, Fig. 4.

7 tare twoclisl:s,situated respectively on opposite sides of the flanged drum or double clutch e, the acting faces of which clutch 6 may either be conical when the acting faces of the disks h z are conical,or plain,asrepresentedin the drawings. The disk '2' is fixed to the shaft (6 by a key and the screw-pin The disk at is the only'part of the clutch mechanislnwhich is permanently fixed to the shaft a The other disk, h, forms part of a. sleeve, h", which sleeve h is capable of turning and sliding upon the first'described or principal sleeve d. The second sleeve, 71. has a pinion, 7L3, upon it, with which the toothed wheel 1011 the counter-shaft '1) gears. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) The said counter-shaft b carries the pulley or wheel m, over which the raising rope or chain is coiled for supporting the load to be raised ,but the second sleeve, 7L2, in small lifts may constitute the winding-drum on which the raisin-g chain or rope is coiled. The two disks h i, on opposite sides of the drum 6, are connected together by the rigid links 1) p, secured to the said disks in the manner represented in Fig. 4. When the links 19 p are parallel to the shaft (t the disks h '13 are at the greatest distance apart, and do not gripe between them the flanged drum 6, and the shaft to turns without the sleeve 01, drum 6, and ratchet-wheel f. When, however, the links 1) 1) take an oblique position the two disks hi are drawn together, and they gripe between them the flanged drum 0, and all the parts of the clutch mechanism are geared togetherthat is to say, the sleeve (1, drum 6, and the second sloeve,h and its disk h move with the shaft a, to which the other disk, 2', is fixed.

When the shaft a is turned in the proper direction by means of the endless rope of the pulley c to raise the load theresistance of the load, transmitted through the shaft 1), toothed wheel I, pinion its, and sleeve 71?, tothe disk 71/, causes the links 0 p to take a position oblique to the shaft to, thereby sliding the sleeve 7L2 on the sleeve d and causing the flanged drama of the said sleeve (Z to be griped between the two disks h and i. The result of the sliding of the sleeve ha is the gearing of the parts d of to the shaft a, the whole of the parts of the gearing now moving together, so that by the turniu g of the shaft to by the endless band and pulley c the motion of the said shaft is, transmitted through the sleeve (1, pinion 71/3, and

turned in the backward direction.

toothed wheel Z to the counter-shaft b, on which the pulley m, carrying the load, is fixed, and the load is raised,the pawl g and ratchet wheel f preventing the backward motion of the shaft so long as the parts are geared together, and the raised load is retained in whatever position it may have been brought to.

In order to lower the load, the shaft a is This inot-ion allows the second sleeve, 7L2, to slide toward the ratchet-wheel f by bringing the links 19 p nearer to parallelism with theshaft. The two clutch-disks h i are thereby slackened on the drum 0, and the sleeve 7b2 is free to take a back ward motion. The said sleeve h is thereby ungeared from the shaft a, and is free to rotate in abackward direction on the principal sleeve d, so as to permit theload on the pulley m to descend, the descent continuing only so long as the backward motion of the shaft on is continued. Thus the load is automatically suspended at any height to which it may have been raised, and readily lowered to any extent by giving motion to the winding-shaft b in a direction contrary to that by which the raising is effected, as described.

The disks h t and drum 0 may be covered by the sheet-metal casing q when the lift is exposed to the weather; but the said casing may be omitted.

Instead of the rigid links p 9, chain or other flexible links may be, employed with the same In order to cause the weight, as in cagehoists, to descend, should the empty cage not be sufficiently heavy to overcome the friction of the gearing,I combine with the clutch-disks hi 0f the gearing two stops, the said stops having for their object to effect the backward or descending rotation of the disk h when the links p 19 have come into their parallel position. These stops are indicated in dotted lines in the sectional plan, Fig. 4, and in plan in Fig. 4", and elevation in Fig. 4 in combination with the two clutch disks h and t. The stop'on the clutch-disk h is marked as, and the stop on the clutch disk l is marked 3 The ends of these stops overlap one another, as represented. When the load is being lifted the said stops :0 y separate; but in the descending rotation of the said disks h i the said stops come in contact, as best seen in the plan in Fig. 43*, and the two disks are made to rotate together, the links p p being thus prevented bythe said stops or y from taking an oblique position in the return or back rotation of the disks h t.

'1 make the pawl g, which gears with the ratchet-wheel f, fixed on the loose sleeve d in the manner illustrated in Fig. 4 The eye or bush 9 of the pawl g turns upon the countershaft b. On the said shaft 1) are two collars, g 9 Between one side of the eye and the fixed collar 9 is a coiled spring, gfiwhich presses the eye'of the pawl forcibly against the collar 9 g, Fig. 3, is a stop for limiting the rising motion of the pawl g. On lifting the load the rotation of the shaft 1) in the lifting direction causes sufficient friction between the eye of the pawl g and collar 9 to lift the said pawl from its ratchet-wheelf, so that during the raising of the load the pawl does not slip over the teeth of the ratchet-wheel f. On the shaft b coming to rest a slight reversal ofits motion takes place, and the pawl g, engaging with the ratchet-wheel f, prevents the back motion of thesleeve d, as before described.

An ordinary pawl may be used instead of the noiseless pawl represented.

Fig. 5 represents in longitudinal section, and Fig. 6 in side elevation, mechanism constrncted according to my invention provided with a single clutch.

to is the shaft of the lift.

1' is the. conical disk, free to rotate on the shaft a, having in this arrangement the ratchetwheel i attached to it for the pawl on the counter-shaft to engage with.

r is a sliding and rotating sleeve, which is geared by the pinion 1' to the counter-shaft.

s is a disk fixed to or made in one piece 7 with the sleeve 1. On the said sleeve '7 is a hollow conical collar, 1*, which engages with the conical disk 1'.

Opposite the disk 8 is a second disk, t, fixed by a key to the shaft and rotating with it, its position on the shaft being adjusted and fixed by the lock-nuts at u. Between the two disks 8 t is a coiled spring, o, by which they are pressed apart. The two disks 8 t are connected together by the rigid links w w, having spherical ends, which seat themselves in properlyshaped seats in the disks 8 t. The links w w are not arranged parallel to the shaft a, but are inclined thereto, as best seen in Fig. 6. When the shaft to is turned for raising the load, the rotation of the disk t making the links to w approach parallelism, the disk 8 and sleeve r are made by the thrusting action of the said links to cause the clutch-disk r to press against and gripe the conical disk 1', so as to gear the sleeve 7' and its disk 8 with the shaft a, and eflect the raising of the load through the pinion W and gearing connected therewith. The application of my improvements to elevators other than lifts differs in no essential respect from its application to a lift as hereinbefore described and illustrated.

When the lift, hoist, or elevator is to be hand-pulley c and its endless band are replaced by toothed or other gearing.

Having now described my said invention and the manner of carrying the same into effect, what I claim is 1. The combination of a clutch-disk fixed on the main shaft, a second clutch-disk connected therewith by rigid or flexible links, and a loose sleeve also mounted upon said shaft, and'whieh constitutes the winding-drum,or th rough which the winding-drum is worked, substantially as described.

2. The coinhinatiomwith the coupled clutchdisks upon the main shaft, of stops which engage upon the reversal of said shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination,with the clutch mechanism and ratchet-wheel mounted upon the main shaft, of an automatic andsilent pawl, as described, mounted on the counter-shaft, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the clutch-disks,

' of links connecting saiddisks, as described,

and by means of which they maybe caused to approach or recede from each other, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination, with a clutch device and means, as described, for operating the same,

of a loose disk or sleeve having a surface for I 5 engagement with said clutch, a ratchet-wheel connected with or carried by said disk or sleeve, and a pawl operating in connection with said ratchet, as set forth.

DAVID EDWARDS. n s.]

Witnesses I J OHN WALTER. THOMAS,

34 St. Marys Street, Om'dz'fi. AUGUSTUS FREDERIG WILLIAMS,

31 Tressz'llz'an Terrace, Uardifi. 

